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Rules Were Broken At Nuclear Plant, Probe Finds

October 18, 1999|By From Tribune News Services.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Supervisors at a government nuclear fuel factory near Richland, Wash., sometimes told workers to ignore rules designed to prevent accidental nuclear reactions, according to an Energy Department investigation that has gained new interest because of a recent accident in Japan.

The factory, the Plutonium Finishing Plant at the department's Hanford Nuclear Reservation, stopped production 10 years ago because the United States no longer needed new plutonium for nuclear weapons.

But the Energy Department is considering reopening a nearby test reactor, mainly used for research and for production of isotopes that can be used for electric power in space ships. Restarting the reactor, known as the Fast Flux Test Facility, could revive the use of the finishing plant to process plutonium, which is a product of the reactor as well as its fuel.

Opponents of the reactor say the fuel it requires and its history of rules violations are similar to those that led to a nuclear accident last month in Tokaimura, Japan.

Two organizations, Heart of America Northwest and the Government Accountability Project, are trying to stop the reopening of the reactor.